The Child
by InVerbisVerum
Summary: The Team makes a life changing discovery that makes them a family. Has both storyline and oneshots. Pre-Invasion.
1. Discovery

**Pre-Season 2**

**Two Months after Auld Acquaintances**

Connor looked around the street, _Gotham really is as bad as Robin said._ During his stay with Robin he had noticed how afraid some of the people were, he and Robin had stopped five robberies tonight alone.

"Is it always like this?" he asked, turning to his friend. Robin looked grimly downwards from the building they were on, an expression the clone wasn't used to seeing on his friend's face.

"No," he broke his gloomy expression with one of his signature smirks, "tonight was slow, definitely was feeling the aster."

Robin and Connor smiled at each other, happy that he had tried to make light of the corruption of the city. Their respite was cut short as Connor cocked his head to the side, his hearing picking up a struggle, "Something's happening at the docks."

"Let's go."

Superboy tackled Robin, knocking them both behind a pile of shipping crates as Intergang's Apocalypse fuel weapons burst across where they were moments ago.

"I thought we had already taken care of these guys!" Robin cried out over the laser fire.

"Apparently not!" Superboy roared as he vaulted the crates, taking down one of the aggressors as he landed.

Robin followed suit, somersaulting out from the crates, tossing his discs as he came up into a leap over another Interganger. Robin turned to kick the man he landed behind, but was knocked across the dock and into Connor. They crashed into a sea-train crate and fell atop each other. The brothers in arms raised their heads to see the barrels of the rifles pointed at them, point-blank.

Before they could respond, three arrows struck the ground before the criminals and sent up smoke. A second later a yellow-red blur cut through the smoke and the bad men therein. The rest of the villains were lifted by a wave raised from beneath the pier, and slammed down by telekinesis. The runners were picked up by boards from the dock that came alive seemingly of their own and trapped in a glowing bubble of energy.

Zatanna walked over to Robin and kissed him on the cheek, "Sorry we took so long ninja-boy."

He kissed her back, "Hey, you were just in time Z."

M'gann helped Connor back to his feet and they embraced. M'gann took a step back, "Hey," Superboy smiled back, "Hey, thanks."

Raquel chuckled at the two couples, "We going to check the crate or smooch?" She glanced slyly at Kaldur, "not that I have a problem with that." Kaldur cleared his throat a little, slightly embarrassed, then looked at the crate Intergang was moving, "Rocket is correct. M'gann, Connor, would you two please-"

"Sure Kaldur." Connor interrupted, moving over to the oversized box, M'gann shortly behind him.

Connor tore the lid off and tossed it to the side, revealing a small stasis pod. Suberboy became rigid with a mixture of anger and shock, still sore from the experiences he had had with the technology. The others gathered around, but the windows were tinted, obscuring the inside. Robin brushed the top of it with his hands.

A second later the seal broke and the pod began to open, the team instinctively jumping back…nothing happened for a second, then crying broke out from the pod. M'gann stepped closer, and gasped.

"M'gann?" Artemis pulled the bowstring a bit tighter, but M'gann didn't respond, but took off her cloak and leaned in to the pod. She leaned back out with it bundled around something in her arms, then she came forward, making shushing noises and rocking the bundle.

"Guys…it's a baby."


	2. Parents

Black Canary entered the room where the Team was hanging out, most of them huddled around M'gann and the child. He looked to be anywhere from one to three years old, blonde hair and bright blue eyes, with freckles across the white skin of his face.

Robin looked up, "Do we have any idea whose kid this is?"

"All of you please, sit-down." Black Canary requested.

The Team complied, some more hesitantly than others. Connor raised his head from looking at the child in his girlfriend's arms, "Is he a clone?"

Canary shifted, almost uncomfortably, "Yes-"

"Then who is he? Who's his…parent?"

Black Canary looked uneasily from one team member to another, "He's not the result of a single person, we found multiple DNA that matched his. There were about seven."

It was now the team's turn to feel out of depth, there was no way they could comprehend how the kid could grow up with seven parents and lead a normal life.

"So who're the parents?"

Zatanna's question seemed to exhaust Canary, "His parents are Kaldur'am, Wally West, Artemis Crock, Connor Kent, Roy Harper, M'gann M'orzz, and Robin."

The new "parent's" either dropped their jaws or widened their eyes.

"We think the Light was able to take your DNA from places you had fought them, like Bialya or the Cadmus labs. He's genetically a year old, but…it's hard to tell." Canary hesitated for a moment, "We can't tell if he'll inherit any of your abilities, but from the medical examination, we know that Martian, Kryptonian, Atlantean, and Human anatomy are all equally present in his body."

Zatanna looked at Canary, confused, "What does that mean?"

"We don't know how he'll mature, we don't even know if he'll be able to talk…the League will need to keep a close eye on him, to make sure nothing…goes wrong."

Canary rose from her seat, "I'll be back later, but I think you all need to talk about this."

Kaldur had politely asked Zatanna and Raquel to leave so the "parents" could talk alone. They all were obviously unnerved by the situation, all subconciously gathering closer to the child.

Artemis spoke first "So what do we do?"

Kaldur looked to his friends, "The League has expressed their intention to look after him, it would be best to trust their judgment."

"No." everyone turned their heads to Connor. "I don't care what the League decides to do, he's staying with us."

Robin spoke up, "And why would the League listen to us? What makes us more qualified than them?"

"Because we're his parents," Wally looked over to the kid, "Connor's right, he needs to have his parents, his _real_ parents, around." The Team all looked to each other, knowing Wally and Connor had said what they all felt inside.

No-one was going to take their child.


	3. Name

M'gann was sitting on the couch with the child, the day after they had decided he was staying with them. Some of the members of the League disagreed, but Connor's threat that he would die before giving up the child settled the matter (much to Superman's hidden pride).

She smiled as she watched him, he was just so…innocent. He looked up at her and stood on her legs, touching her face with his hands. She had looked into his mind earlier to find and erase any Cadmus programming, thankfully there was none there. While she looked into his mind, she realized he had also been looking into hers, like he wanted to hold his mother's mind as well as her hand, it had brought tears to her eyes. He looked at her strangely when he felt the traces of the tears from earlier, then hugged her around her neck. She smiled wider, the joyful tears starting again.

He broke the hug and realized she was crying again. He climbed down from the couch and tugged at her hand, trying to tell her to follow. She humored him as he led her around the cave, eventually finding Connor in the garage. He let go of her hand and ran over to his grease-covered father, who smiled and swung him up into his arms, "Hey, kid."

The boy pointed to M'gann and then traced his finger from his eye to his cheek. It took Connor a moment to realize that he was telling him that M'gann had been crying. "M'gann, are you alright?" the Boy of steel asked as he walked over to her.

"I'm fine, I'm…I'm great actually." Connor looked over to his son, "See kid, she's fine." The kid looked from Connor to M'gann and back and nodded his head. "Y'know, I think he needs a name." "How about Connor Jr.?" Connor blushed, the kid touching his cheeks and giggling. "I think everyone should have a say in the kid's name." The father mumbled under his breath, handing the boy over to M'gann. "Then I'll have everyone meet us in the kitchen."

The team had all gathered in the kitchen per M'gann's request. Raquel and Zatanna had also come, much to the relief of the others. "So," Zatanna spoke first, "What are you going to name him?"

"How about Wally Jr-" "NO!" Wally shrunk back at the united responses of Artemis, Robin, and Connor.

"It should have something from all of us…if he is to be our child he should have his name be one he can be proud of."

"And just how are we going to find a name like that? He's human, Martian, Atlantean, and Kryptonian…" Kaldur looked to Artemis, "I believe there is a saying here on the surface, 'nothing good is ever easy'."

"How about Daniel?" the team looked to Robin, "What? It's a human name, in Kryptonian it could be Dan-El, D'ann in Martian…oh, wait, not Atlantean."

Kaldur put his hand on Robin's shoulder, "Dahn'al…it is an Atlantean for faith."

M'gann smiled and looked to the grinning child in her arms, "Well then, hello Daniel."


	4. Spitfire

Artemis looked down at her "son" in her mother's living room. She smiled as he slept peacefully, looking at him and seeing parts of her teammates, no, parts of her family in him. His hair was a blonde color, closer to Kaldur's than her own, and his face was strewn with Wally's freckles. His skin was white like most of the team, and as the child opened his stormy grayish-blue eyes it brought tears to hers.

"Artemis, are you going to hog my grandchild all night?"

The blonde archer looked up to see her mother coming in from the kitchen, "Hey mom, I was just…"

Paula put her hand to her daughter's face, "I know Artemis, I know. I have held that joy twice before."

The two women embraced around the child, a smile sneaking its way across his face in his sleep as the women cried in happiness. His eyes drifted open and he started wriggling towards his grandmother, breaking the embrace as she pulled the sleepy child into her lap.

"Has he spoken yet?"

"No, not even a word. M'gann told me that he might learn to talk with telepathy before he can speak. I'm kinda worried."

Paula looked to her daughter, "Artemis, this child is the son of some of the strongest people you know. No matter what happens, Daniel will be alright."

Daniel looked to the door, a second later three knocks came from it. Artemis opened the door to see her boyfriend's smiling face, "Hey babe."

She kissed him on the cheek, "Hey Baywatch."

Wally walked in and hugged Paula and his son, "Hey there little guy! How've you been?" He picked him up and rocked him gently as Dan hugged him around the neck. Artemis watched almost sadly, knowing that the team had decided to "share custody" with Daniel and that it was Wally's turn starting tomorrow.

"Hey, I gotta go. Aunt Iris is probably freaking out already about seeing her grand=nephew and I promised Uncle Barry to get back as fast as I can. Y'know, sparing his life and whatnot."

Artemis smiled at the teen speedster's remark, then frowned, "Wally, did you run here?"

"Yeah, why?"

"And just how did you plan on getting Danny home _safely_?"

"I…uh…" Wally's face went into its _oh crap_ mode immediately. "I screwed up big, didn't I?"

"Yup."

"You're not going to let me run back with him are you?"

"No!"

"…"

"…"

"Poor Uncle Barry."

Wally called his Aunt and Uncle, explaining what had happened and why they wouldn't be seeing their grand-nephew that night, and that upon Paula's insistence he also stay the night.

"Thanks for letting me stay over Paula."

Artemis smiled at her boyfriend and ruffled his hair as she passed him by, "C'mon, West. You're family, literally."

Her boyfriend smiled his girl when Paula came into the room with a pillow and some blankets, "It's no problem Wallace, I hope that this will be enough."

"Thanks again Paula."

"Just don't get any ideas you two. Just because you already have one kid doesn't mean you need to try for another." The older woman advised as she wheeled out from the room.

"Mom!"

Wally's muffled snicker was heard by the archer, who shot him a glare.

"Y'know you're cute when you're angry babe?"

Wally hit the ground hard, he never knew someone could hit that hard with a pillow.

"I said no ideas you two!"

"MOM!"

Wally smiled, _Yup, I'm definitely family._


End file.
